I once wrote about the very first public tree lighting ceremony that took place on Christmas Eve in 1912. What I neglected to mention in that story was that Madison Square Park was covered in snow, thanks to a large storm on Christmas Eve that dumped almost a foot of snow on New York City. […]
Archive for the ‘Featured Felines’ Category
Christmas 1912: Tim, the Polydactyl Shipwrecked Cat Rescued off Long Island
Posted: 11th December 2013 by The Hatching Cat in Featured FelinesTags: Cat Stories, Eatons Neck Life-Saving Station, Hemingway cats, Henry E. Ketcham, New York History, polydactyl, USLSS
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1907: Minnie, the Thanksgiving Cat of the Essex Market Police Court Prison
Posted: 15th November 2013 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Featured FelinesTags: Cat Stories, Essex Market Place, Essex Market Police Court, Lower East Side, Minnie Maddern Fiske, New York History, Thanksgiving
On Thanksgiving Day in 1907, all of the prisoners and felines at Essex Market received a big chicken dinner served by veteran matron, Mrs. R.R. Fitzgerald.
1941: The WWII “Aristocats” of the Brooklyn-Long Island Cat Club
Posted: 25th August 2013 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Featured FelinesTags: Ann Mudge, Brooklyn-Long Island Cat Club, Cat Clubs, Cat Stories, Hotel St. George
The Brooklyn-Long Island Cat Club was the brainchild of Ann Mudge of Brooklyn Heights. Although Mrs. Mudge had a pampered Persian named Chou Chou Bu, the backyard of her federal-style townhouse at 64 Poplar Street was home to numerous alley cats, including one of her favorite strays, Kitten Mitten.
1897: Ginger, the “Live Oak” Fire Cat of the Lower East Side
Posted: 12th June 2013 by The Hatching Cat in Featured FelinesTags: Baruch Houses, Black Jake Engine Company, Cat Stories, Engine Company 11, fire cat, Isaac Webb, Live Oak Engine Company, Lower East Side, Metropolitan Fire Department, New York History
In a recent post, I wrote about Ginger, a well-loved fire dog for Hook and Ladder Co. No. 5 of New York’s Metropolitan Fire Department. The following tale is also about Ginger, but this mascot was a fire cat for a historical fire company once called the Live Oak Engine Company. In 1894, an orange […]
1946: The Cat Who Broke Rank with the Dogs of Operation Bow-Wow
Posted: 31st May 2013 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Featured FelinesTags: Cat Stories, Chelsea Piers, Liberty ship, New York History, Operation Bow-Wow, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Warren P. Marks
On February 20, 1946, the Liberty ship SS Warren P. Marks arrived at Chelsea Piers (Pier 60) on the Hudson River carrying 81 dogs and “one live cat from Bremerhaven, Germany.” The dogs and cat had all been obtained overseas during World War II by American soldiers who wanted to keep them as pets back home.
